Downing Street said the government was working hard on its preparations for Brexit.

It had “a good and constructive” relationship with the Irish government, said a spokesperson.

The Irish government refused to comment on the leaked document, which was published by the country’s national broadcaster RTÉ on Thursday.

“A core part of the work of our embassies and other missions abroad is to report on the views of our partners on what is a strategically vital issue for Ireland,” said an Irish government spokesperson.

“These routine reports are internal and confidential and are not intended for the public domain.”

‘Confusion at home’

The leaked document is based on a compilation of political reports from Irish embassies across Europe, dated between 6 and 10 November.

It claims that Brexit was barely mentioned during a meeting on 23 October between Mr Davis and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and French Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau – something which was viewed as a wasted opportunity.

“Despite having billed this in the media in advance as a meeting to ‘unblock’ French resistance, Davis hardly mentioned Brexit at all during the meeting, much to French surprise, focusing instead on foreign policy issues,” the paper states.

The Czech deputy minister for foreign affairs, Jakub Durr, told officials he felt “sorry for British ambassadors around the EU trying to communicate a coherent message when there is political confusion at home”.

Meanwhile, during a meeting in Luxembourg, a British judge at the European Court of Justice is quoted bemoaning “the quality of politicians in Westminster”.

The judge, Ian Forrester, also wondered if the British public would view Brexit as “a great mistake” when they realised what leaving the EU entailed, according to the leaked paper.

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Image caption
The future management of the Irish border is one of three main priorities in UK-EU Brexit talks

The report highlights the significant concerns that will make it difficult to progress negotiations to a second phase at next month’s summit.

Overall, the various ministries across the EU expressed doubt that the UK would be permitted to move to the second phase of talks unless it brought forward solutions to the issue of the UK’s financial liabilities on leaving the EU.

They noted that the EU remained united at 27, and that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, had appeared far from optimistic that a breakthrough would happen at the December summit.

Reckless Varadkar?

Mr Varadkar “should know better” than to “play around” with Northern Ireland over Brexit, Arlene Foster said after the Taoiseach suggested leaving the EU could jeopardise the peace process.

The Irish government says any hard border with Northern Ireland should be off the table.

And an EU paper recently suggested Northern Ireland would have to continue to follow many EU rules after Brexit if a hard border was to be avoided.

It hinted Northern Ireland may need to stay in the EU customs union if there were to be no checks at the border.

That is something the UK Conservative government – supported in key votes by the DUP at Westminster – has said it can not accept as it would effectively create a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

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